USB 2.0 card not working on QuickSilver?

[dandeco]

A while back, I bought a PCI USB 2.0 card with the NEC chip to use in my PowerMac G4 QuickSilver desktop (867 MHz); THIS model...

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However, when running it under Mac OS X 10.4.11 Tiger, the operating system doesn't seem to read the card! I plugged a USB 2.0 thumbdrive with an LED into the card, and the LED flashed and then went on steady, indicating the card was getting power, but nothing showed up on the OS.

Is there an additional driver or firmware update I need to do in order to get this card to work? Or should I try and hunt down a card from Sonnet?

 

[eyoungren]

It's usually a good idea to confirm stuff like this with another USB device. What happens if you plug a USB mouse or keyboard (or something really simple that doesn't take a lot of power) into the card?

If that works, perhaps it's the USB stick?

I've had some PC formatted thumb drives refuse to show on the desktop and had to go in to Disk Utility to mount or reformat them.

If the USB mouse or keyboard or whatever you choose to use doesn't work, then yeah, the card may be incompatible. I'd check NEC for Mac drivers at that point if this is the case..

 

[TheShortTimer]

I'd check NEC for Mac drivers at that point if this is the case..

I'd wager that the USB stick is at fault. I have an NEC PCI card in my Sawtooth and it works under Tiger, Panther and even OS 9 - without any need for drivers. My QS came with a VIA PCI card and even that, surprisingly works well under Panther and Tiger without drivers.

 

[dandeco]

I tried plugging a USB mouse into the card, and while the laser came on on the bottom of the mouse, I couldn't move the cursor. I might need to look for drivers from NEC...

 

[1042686]

I’ve had known good usb2 cards stop working on me. Reseating them into a new PCI slot sometimes fixed it for me.

FYI, I noticed on the eBay ad, listed compatible os are windows & linux.

 

[TheShortTimer]

@dandeco That is really surprising because the NEC chipset based USB 2.0 PCI cards are always recommended because they will work out of the box on Macs.
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FYI, I noticed on the eBay ad, listed compatible os are windows & linux.

Ah, that probably explains it.

 

[dandeco]

I’ve had known good usb2 cards stop working on me. Reseating them into a new PCI slot sometimes fixed it for me.

FYI, I noticed on the eBay ad, listed compatible os are windows & linux.

Hmm, that might be it. I will also try moving it to another PCI slot and see what happens. If not, I'll probably spring for this...

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And hey, a couple extra FireWire 400 ports too!

 

[TheShortTimer]

This is the card that I mentioned earlier. It uses the NEC D72010IFI chipset, works without any drivers in OS 9 and OS X and is much cheaper than a Sonnet offering.

 

[1042686]

This is the card that I mentioned earlier. It uses the NEC D72010IFI chipset, works without any drivers in OS 9 and OS X and is much cheaper than a Sonnet offering.

I have a couple of these - nice cards. IIRC a few years back an Italian forum member (forget his name - nice gent) was having trouble with a NEC chipset USB2 pci card he bought for his MDD (I want to say it was adaptec branded but dont recall exactly) - anyhoo so it looks like not all NEC chipsets are mac friendly, and in some instances some VIA chipsets are (I have a VIA USB2 card in my MDD). One thing is for certain, while kinda pricey, Sonnet stuff just works in a mac ... well, let me step back and say I've never seen Sonnet gear not work in a mac.

 

[dandeco]

Yeah, that's the card I have in my PowerMac G4. I tried moving it to another PCI slot, and it's the same story; the mouse is getting power but I can't move the cursor. Maybe its' NEC chipset is not Mac friendly. I did find the driver installers for it, but for the Mac they seem to be meant for Mac OS X 10.1 and 10.2, as they claim they should work fine on OS X 10.3 and 10.4. When I tried installing the 10.2 installed, I just got an error message saying "Please try installing again." I put the two .kext files from the package in the Extensions folder some time back, but that didn't help much. Maybe I should remove them? (OMI_EHCI.kext and OMI_USBHub.kext)

 

[1042686]

Do you happen to have another windows tower to try it in? Might be worth checking. Perhaps the NEC chipset is compatible and the card is just a lemon - DOA. You could get a replacement/refund if that were the case and push your funds to the sonnet.

 

[dandeco]

Do you happen to have another windows tower to try it in? Might be worth checking. Perhaps the NEC chipset is compatible and the card is just a lemon - DOA. You could get a replacement/refund if that were the case and push your funds to the sonnet.

We may have a couple PC towers I can test it in, when I get the chance. It's possible my card could be a lemon.

 

[TheShortTimer]

I have a couple of these - nice cards. IIRC a few years back an Italian forum member (forget his name - nice gent) was having trouble with a NEC chipset USB2 pci card he bought for his MDD (I want to say it was adaptec branded but dont recall exactly) - anyhoo so it looks like not all NEC chipsets are mac friendly, and in some instances some VIA chipsets are (I have a VIA USB2 card in my MDD).

The QS that I acquired recently came with a VIA chipset USB2 card. Tiger and Panther detect and enable it without drivers and without issue but it doesn't work under OS 9 unsurprisingly I suppose. The NEC card was ticked on the packaging as Mac compatible and I'll look for that chipset if I need further cards.

One thing is for certain, while kinda pricey, Sonnet stuff just works in a mac ... well, let me step back and say I've never seen Sonnet gear not work in a mac.

Of course. Sonnet is the gold standard and that's also reflected the price of their products.

 

[1042686]

Hey man, we're all made of money right?

 

[eyoungren]

The QS that I acquired recently came with a VIA chipset USB2 card. Tiger and Panther detect and enable it without drivers and without issue but it doesn't work under OS 9 unsurprisingly I suppose.

I had a USB card with the VIA chipset and used it on a 6500 under OS9. It requires the USB driver update, but if you've already installed 9.1 it should come with it. Anything under that requires the update.

Take a look here: http://www.virtualinformation.com/drivers/USBCardSupport.htm

 

[Project Alice]

A while back, I bought a PCI USB 2.0 card with the NEC chip to use in my PowerMac G4 QuickSilver desktop (867 MHz); THIS model...

5-Port High Speed USB 2.0 PCI Controller Card w/ NEC Chip (4+1) 847551065450 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 5-Port High Speed USB 2.0 PCI Controller Card w/ NEC Chip (4+1) at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

However, when running it under Mac OS X 10.4.11 Tiger, the operating system doesn't seem to read the card! I plugged a USB 2.0 thumbdrive with an LED into the card, and the LED flashed and then went on steady, indicating the card was getting power, but nothing showed up on the OS.

Is there an additional driver or firmware update I need to do in order to get this card to work? Or should I try and hunt down a card from Sonnet?

I have this exact card, sitting in a drawer. It doesn’t work. At all. In PCs, or Macs. It worked for like a day when I bought it and now it’s useless. Idk if that’s why it isn’t working for you, but it’s more likely than not. It’s a ridiculously cheap card and the build quality of the PCB makes me nervous just holding it.

USB 2 cards are so cheap these days, just buy a better one. I’d get one with multiple controllers so you’re not sharing the bandwidth for all ports.

 

[TheShortTimer]

I had a USB card with the VIA chipset and used it on a 6500 under OS9. It requires the USB driver update, but if you've already installed 9.1 it should come with it. Anything under that requires the update.

Take a look here: http://www.virtualinformation.com/drivers/USBCardSupport.htm

I'm running the OS 9 Lives version of 9.2.2. That means it should work "out of the box" right?

I’d get one with multiple controllers so you’re not sharing the bandwidth for all ports.

Can you give some examples of such Mac compatible cards please? I'd certainly be interested in knowing more about this.

 

[weckart]

... well, let me step back and say I've never seen Sonnet gear not work in a mac.

I have. I had a Sonnet Tempo HD card for Mac, which bizarrely had the PC firmware on it. I could find no way to flash it back to Mac compatibility and neither could Sonnet, so back to the seller it went.

 

[weckart]

Can you give some examples of such Mac compatible cards please? I'd certainly be interested in knowing more about this.

I might be wrong on this but all of the multi-controller ones that I am aware of, like the Highpoint Rocket series are PCIe and usually USB 3.0.

 

[eyoungren]

I'm running the OS 9 Lives version of 9.2.2. That means it should work "out of the box" right?

I have no idea - although I would assume so.

On the other hand, the 6500 I used was only capable of 9.0.4 through New World ROM - which meant this update. Normally, it's limited to 8.6 I think.

 

[dandeco]

OK, I tried the card in a spare Dell PC tower we had in our basement and it worked perfectly. Maybe its' chipset isn't really designed for Macs? Or maybe it's because my PowerMac G4 is setup as a dual-boot system with Mac OS X 10.4.11 Tiger and OS 9.2.2, and that's interfering with the drivers/settings for the card?

 

[weckart]

OK, I tried the card in a spare Dell PC tower we had in our basement and it worked perfectly. Maybe its' chipset isn't really designed for Macs? Or maybe it's because my PowerMac G4 is setup as a dual-boot system with Mac OS X 10.4.11 Tiger and OS 9.2.2, and that's interfering with the drivers/settings for the card?

The chipset is fine and should work on Macs. I'm sure I have one of these in one of my Macs somewhere. I would not read anything into the cards' only mentioning Windows/Linux as supported systems. USB 2.0 only got full support part way through the Tiger cycle. Prior to that, sleep would not work, hence the reluctance of third party manufacturers to mention OSX as a supported system. Does the card show up in System Profiler in either OS9 or OSX with the card in or is it showing an unidentified PCI card?

 

[dandeco]

The chipset is fine and should work on Macs. I'm sure I have one of these in one of my Macs somewhere. I would not read anything into the cards' only mentioning Windows/Linux as supported systems. USB 2.0 only got full support part way through the Tiger cycle. Prior to that, sleep would not work, hence the reluctance of third party manufacturers to mention OSX as a supported system. Does the card show up in System Profiler in either OS9 or OSX with the card in or is it showing an unidentified PCI card?

In OS X I just got "No information found" under "PCI Cards" in the System Profiler. In OS 9, for PCI I only see Slot 1, the AGP card, listed.

 

[weckart]

That's actually strange. It should still detect a PCI card and at least read the vendor ID and Device ID even if it doesn't load any drivers. Do you have any other PCI cards you could slot in? I am wondering if your logic board has issues.

Not to come off as patronising but does the card actually go all the way into the PCI slot? I am also wondering if some of the card pins are not touching the slot contacts.

 

[TheShortTimer]

Or maybe it's because my PowerMac G4 is setup as a dual-boot system with Mac OS X 10.4.11 Tiger and OS 9.2.2, and that's interfering with the drivers/settings for the card?

That wouldn't be the culprit. I have a triple boot with Tiger, Panther and 9.2.2 and my NEC card works with all three without any difficulties.

Not to come off as patronising but does the card actually go all the way into the PCI slot? I am also wondering if some of the card pins are not touching the slot contacts.

That happened to me just the other day. It's definitely something to consider.